Sign up for our newsletter!

For Online Ads

For Marketing Query

Category: Electronics

PCBs or printed circuit boards have modernized the electronics world, but they don’t have topnotch durability unlike the old hardwired, steel-chassis devices. Handling them with proper care is of great importance. Although repairing a broken PCB is sometimes possible, it can be a very frustrating process. Most of the time, the toughest part of the repair is finding the broken copper traces on the printed circuit board.Visit www.pcbnet.com for more detail information.

Tips on Repairing Printed Circuit Boards

1.Apply the Epoxy

Combine the epoxy following the manufacturer’s instructions, and carefully apply it to one side of the board. Press the two halves of the damaged boards together, and hold them together until the epoxy sticks firmly. Within a few seconds the epoxy will set, but you should wait for 30 minutes before going to the next step. If you have a two-sided printed circuit board the same steps apply, but in case you have a multilayered board, where the traces cannot be accessed, you will need a new board.

2.Cutting the Broken Copper Traces

Using a razor knife, cut into the damaged traces. Remove the excess traces, and cautiously use emery to smoothen the traces from which you detached the loose parts. To expose the bright copper, sand the ends of these traces. Avoid getting in contact on traces that didn’t break when the board gets damaged.

3.Soldering

In using the soldering pencil, plug it into a 110-volt receptacle and wait until it gets hot. In cleaning the soldering tip, wipe it using a wet sponge. Remove that all the dirt and oxidation from the tip.

4.Cleaning the Soldering Pencil

Use rosin-core solder thinly applied to clean the soldering pencil tip. A well tinned tip will be a bright silvery color. In case the tip is dull gray in color, you will require to repeat steps three and four until you get a properly tinned tip. This is important so the heat is transferred efficiently during the soldering process.

5.Applying Rosin-Core Solder on the Bared Copper Traces

In bared copper traces of the printed circuit boards, apply the rosin-core solder. Carefully apply heat enough to melt the solder. Too much heat will cause the copper traces to separate from the board.

6.Cutting Copper Wire

Cut the 18 gauge copper wire into pieces long enough to span the cut traces, and tin these short lengths of wire using rosin-core solder.

7.Laying Tinned Wire on the Traces

Pick up a tinned wire using the tweezers and carefully lay it across one of the traces where you removed a loose part. Using a piece of wire lying across the gap, use the soldering pencil’s tip until it fuses to the copper trace on the printed circuit boards. Repeat the step using the remaining wires.

8.Reassemble the Device

Rebuild the device and test it to determine if it functions properly. If the device does not work as it should, test your repair job by checking the meter reading from the next point on the circuit breaker on every side of the repair. This will show you if there is anything wrong with solder connections.

The simplest way to identify broken traces is to utilize a digital multimeter and take readings between the printed circuit board adjacent terminal points. Just set the multimeter to the “Ohms” function and touch the probes to the traces. Bad trace the multimeter will display an “O.L.”. The best trace will show 0.00 to 0.5.

These electronics when disposed without proper care will cause great danger. Proper measures and methods should be taken in disposing the waste or unused parts.